Items tagged with tsa

When The Washington Post posted a story about the "secret life" of TSA bag handlers, it thought it'd spice up its presentation with a neat shot of master baggage keys being spread in someone's hand like a fan. As it happens, that was unwise, as when it comes to standard keys like those used for baggage, all that's needed to duplicate them is a clear image. That's a fact that GitHub user Xylintol wasn't ignorant of, so he decided to get to work and draw up some CAD files. Despite not having baggage with TSA-approved locks to test with, Xylintol released the files to the Web anyway, in case anyone...Read more...

In the wake of the pair of thwarted bombings by Al Qaeda last month, the TSA has announced additional restrictions and guidelines for passengers traveling both within the United States and internationally. In additional to logical and prudent steps, such as banning packages from Somalia and Yemen (temporarily) and additional screening for packages classified as high risk, there's a new pair of rules that're collectively bizarre. From the DHS press release: Toner and ink cartridges over 16 ounces will be prohibited on passenger aircraft in both carry-on bags and checked bags on domestic and international...Read more...

Gadget lovers have a particular hate for airport security. Even if they're trained professionals who fly on a weekly basis, there's just no quick way to get through the rigors involved in passing onto the sterile side. Those grey buckets become your worst enemy: before you know it, you've claimed five or six of them and taken up the whole belt, and the passengers behind you are glaring and growing increasingly impatient. Anyone who travels with numerous notebooks, cameras, hard drives, battery packs and lenses knows the pains of passing through airport security. Each laptop has to go in its own...Read more...

The TSA takes a lot of heat, some of the fair, some of it not so fair. But one thing that has been a great improvement over the years is the organization's openness and willingness to communicate with passengers. The TSA Blog is a great place to hear more on decisions being made that will affect your airport travels, and the latest post comes just on the heels of the iPad launch in the U.S. For awhile now, many travelers have assumed that any "notebook like" gadget had to be slapped in a separate grey bin for solo screening. Now, we're being told otherwise, and for once, it's good news rather than...Read more...

As if you really needed one more reason to take the car, ferry or bicycle to your next destination, the Department of Homeland Security has just issued another update to its long list of search rules that'll most certainly spark up some debate. Thankfully for those with United States passports, this one probably won't have a serious impact on you, but if a foreigner is in front of you in the line to get stamped into this nation, get ready for even more possible delays.DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano recently announced new directives that clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic...Read more...

For frequent fliers at select airports, paperless boarding is no big deal. In fact, it's a way of life they adopted well over a year ago. But for many, they still have to search tirelessly to find which pocket they crammed their boarding pass into before stripping down and cruising through security. In an effort to get more and more travelers onto flights without any additional paper (and paperwork), the Transportation Security Administration and Continental Airlines have jointly announced the expansion of the Paperless Boarding Pass pilot program at San Diego International Airport. The program...Read more...

Six million miles, into space no less. The lightsaber used by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker will be flown into space on the space shuttle, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. And let's be honest, when we talk about Star Wars, despite the "episodes," there is only one Star Wars movie. Doug Mattice, a spokesman for Space Center Houston, said that the prop -- used when Mark Hamill played Luke Skywalker and fought Darth Vader -- would ride aboard the shuttle Discovery, which is scheduled for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 23. It will be docked...Read more...

ECS P4IBAD versus Transcend TS-ABR4 Budget i845s Do Battle! By, Marco Chiappetta March 28, 2002 When the Pentium 4 was initially introduced, the only motherboards available were based on the Intel i850 chipset, which required the use of relatively expensive (at the time) RDRAM. While the performance of an i850 / Pentium 4 combo was excellent, the price was prohibitive and kept Intel's new CPU out of the hands of many users. Intel took too long to ready an alternate chipset that used less expensive memory types, which opened the door for companies like SiS and VIA to snatch up...Read more...

Transcends TS-ASL3 - i815E Motherboard Straight Shooting Socket 370 Performance By Dave "Davo" Altavilla 12/5/00 It seems like the folks at Transcend only came into the PC Motherboard scene within the last year or so. However, they have been in business making Memory Modules and Motherboards since 1988. Perhaps the reason they seem so new to us this year at HotHardware, is because their product offering has been rounding out nicely as of recent. On our first pass with a Transcend product, we showed you one of their VIA based offerings. This is a HotHardware look at Transcend's...Read more...